


Ned

by olgushka



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attempt at Humor, Friendship/Love, Inspired by Chlorine Music Video, Kinda Crack, M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-16 04:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17542712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olgushka/pseuds/olgushka
Summary: Tyler's definition of domestic animals is a little bit strange.





	Ned

The sound of something breaking and a loud scream makes Tyler abandon his piano and sprint through the house. He almost trips over the rug in the hallway and lands face down on the floor but he miraculously regains his balance and runs to the kitchen where the noise is coming from.

What he sees is quite confusing. Josh is standing on the kitchen counter with a pan in his hand and a terrified expression on his face. The floor is covered in tiny pieces of the shattered plate, bread and whatever Josh put on his sandwiches.

Before Tyler can ask what’s going on, a movement under the table catches his attention and a small white furry creature peeks at him from behind the chair. It looks even more terrified than the man on the counter and Tyler quickly abandons the idea of helping Josh. Instead, he walks over to the table and crouches down to be on the eye-level with the unexpected guest. Unexpected - definitely for Josh. Tyler knows who he deals with.

„You’re safe. You can come out.” He says and reaches out. The creature hesitates but then throws itself at him and hides in his embrace when Tyler picks it up and cradles against his chest. Then, he stands up and turns to his best friend. This isn’t how he wanted the introduction to happen but there’s nothing he can do about it now. „Josh, this is Ned.”

„What’s a ned?” Josh asks, still holding the pan.

„No, no. His name is Ned. I... I don’t really know what kind of animal he is.”

„Animal!? Tyler, this is not an animal. This is- It looks like a freaking alien!”

„I thought you liked aliens?”

„I like _the idea_ of aliens. I’ve never said I wanted to meet one.” Josh says, jumping from the counter but keeping a safe distance. „Where- Where did it come from?”

„He must have smelled food.” Tyler murmurs, ignoring Josh’s question. „Are you hungry, little guy? Let’s find something.”

He balances the creature on his hip like a mother would balance her baby, grabs an apple and cuts it in four. He puts the pieces into a bowl and holds it for Ned who chooses one piece and starts nibbling on the fruit. His ears immediately perk up and his large black eyes shine with excitement.

He’s fluffy and kinda cute but Josh still takes one more step back after noticing Ned’s sharp teeth.

„You feed him apples?” He asks carefully.

„I think he’s a vegetarian. I tried to feed him meat once and he spat in my eye.” Tyler says like it’s a completely normal situation. He strokes Ned behind his ear and between his tiny horns. „Celery sticks are his favorite though.”

„Tyler...” Josh starts again, slowly. He closes his eyes, puts his fingers to his temples and takes a deep breath. „Oh, God. I am dreaming.” He mumbles under his breath but when he looks at Tyler again, he doesn’t look scared anymore - it’s more a look of disbelief showing on his face. „Where did you get this... _thing_ from? How long... How long have you had him in this house without me knowing?”

„A couple of weeks, I guess?”

„A couple of weeks!?” Josh yells in a high-pitched voice. It startles Ned who turns his head to look at the man and hisses, showing his teeth, making sure his fangs are visible.

„Ned, stop this right now.” Tyler reprimands the creature. „We don’t hiss at Josh. Josh is a friend.”

„Tyler, there’s a cheetah in the basement that hates my guts, your fucking vulture still lives on the roof and keeps coming back no matter how many times I try to scare it off and now you brought home an alien!?” Josh runs his fingers through his hair and tugs at it until it’s too painful. „Okay. Okay, I need to... I need to sit down.” He sighs and walks to the living room. Tyler follows him without a word and joins him on the couch, placing Ned on his lap. The creature still munches on his apple and looks at Josh with curious eyes. „Did you spike my RedBull earlier? Because there’s no way in hell this-” He points at Tyler’s new _pet_. „-is real.”

„He’s not an alien.”

„Tyler, he looks like a love child of Gizmo and E.T.”

Ned doesn’t seem to like this comparison. He forcefully spits the contents of his mouth in Josh’s direction and the mixture of chewed fruit and a sticky spit lands on the front of his shirt. Ned climbs off Tyler’s lap, runs out of the room and disappears in the hallway.

„Great. Now you’ve upset him!” Tyler says angrily. „He’s sensitive!”

„ _Sens_...” Josh’s voice trails off. He stands up and towers above the younger man. „Tyler Robert Joseph. You will tell me where did he come from, right this instant.”

Tyler sighs and drops his gaze but then looks up at Josh apologetically.

„Remember how we went to explore that abandoned chemical factory last month? And how I kept telling you that I had this strange feeling of being watched?” Tyler asks and Josh confirms it with a nod. „You didn’t believe me but I couldn’t get rid of the feeling so I- I drove back there the next day when you had a meeting with Dallon.”

„You went there _alone_!?” Josh yells, making Tyler flinch. „Tyler, how many times I have to tell you-”

„I know! I know! It could be dangerous and I know I was reckless but I had to go back, okay? I had to!” Tyler yells back. „I’m okay! Nothing happened!”

„But it could!”

„But it _didn’t_.” Tyler insists. „I went back and at first I thought it was really my imagination playing tricks on me but then something fell and I knew I was right. I followed the noise and... and I found him, hiding next to this big chlorine tank we saw. He was so small and so scared, Josh. He was terrified! And when I made him come out, he just... He just came to me and... And looked at me- He trusted me, Josh. He trusted me that I will help him. I knew I couldn’t leave him there!”

„Listen, your _friend_ is clearly a product of some kind of mutation or a chemical reaction, he might be dangerous.” Josh says as calmly as he can, although keeping his voice down seems to be terribly difficult. „Let’s be reasonable for a moment. I think we should call someone-”

„I’m not abandoning him.” The younger man shakes his head. „And I’m definitely not letting some strangers take him away just so they can lock him up in a lab and poke him like a rat.”

„Tyler, I’m already dealing with an unpredictable cheetah and an annoying vulture. I don’t think I can deal with sharing a living space with _an alien_. It’s a little bit too much.”

„He’s not an alien!” Tyler throws his hands in the air and stands up. He starts pacing around the room. „I’m not getting rid of Ned. If he has to go, I’ll go with him. If it really bothers you so much, I- I will move out.”

„Don’t be ridiculous.”

„No, I’m serious. I’ll take Ned and... And Jason and Clifford, and we will get off your back.”

„Where will you go?”

„I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter to _you_.”

„Tyler-” Josh tries but the other man turns on his heel and storms out of the living room. His quick footsteps are followed by a slam of his bedroom door.

Josh lets out a loud groan and rubs at his face. He knows he needs to give Tyler some time to cool off. It’s not their first argument and probably not the last one - Tyler has a tendency to overreact and choose what his heart says instead of his brain’s reasonable thinking.

He walks back to the kitchen to clean the mess - he swipes the floor, gets rid of the dirty spot on his shirt, wipes the counter, puts the food back in the fridge. He’s not hungry anymore.

Josh looks out of the window and glances up. Clifford is there - of course, he’s there – having his own breakfast at the edge of the roof. He holds something with his claws, something that looks like a huge dead rat and tears the flesh with his hooked beak. Josh makes a face and quickly looks away. He’s still not sure where the vulture really came from. When he met Tyler, Clifford was already there, acting like a shadow, following him from one location to another. The younger man has never explained anything directly but one simple sentence _I owe him my life and he owes me his _– even if creepy as heck – was somehow satisfying enough. Tyler has always been a mysterious guy.__

__The cheetah though, it’s a different story. They found him in the middle of the woods during one of their explorations, chained to a tree, when he was still a tiny cub. Josh doesn’t know why Jason has grown to hate him so much even if Josh gave Tyler his approval to take the animal home, helped Tyler to bathe him, feed him and raise him._ _

Even if Jason is not fond of him, Josh can live with that because nothing changes the fact that Clifford and Jason are _real animals_ and Ned is some _unidentified creature_ that lived in an abandoned chemical factory for God knows how long. But the idea of losing Tyler is much scarier than the fluffy creature that his best friend brought home.

__He waits a little bit longer before knocking on Tyler’s bedroom door and pushing it open even if Tyler is silent on the other side. Josh finds him asleep on the bed with his arm wrapped around Ned who’s curled up close to him. Despite everything, it’s an adorable sight and Josh can’t stop himself from sitting next to them at the edge of the mattress. The movement makes Ned open his eyes. He stares at Josh for a long moment, not blinking, and it sends shivers down Josh’s spine. It feels like Ned is able to see through his soul._ _

__Josh reaches out – carefully, trying not to startle the creature. Ned sniffs his hand and lets Josh pet his head. It feels weird. Ned’s fur is soft, softer than cat’s belly fur, maybe even softer than chinchilla’s. But once Josh starts stroking him, he seems to lean into the touch._ _

__Tyler opens his eyes not long after and he stares at Josh without a word. When he fully comes back to reality, he quickly sits up and drags Ned away from Josh’s reach._ _

__„What are you doing?” He asks and his voice cracks from lack of use._ _

__„Nothing, I-”_ _

__„Leave him alone. I won’t let you take him away.” Tyler says angrily, shielding the creature with his body._ _

__„No, no. I’m not- I wasn’t trying to take him away.”_ _

__„Then what were you trying to do?”_ _

__Josh sighs and offers Tyler a small smile._ _

__„Warm up to him, I guess.” He says and folds his hands in his lap when Tyler’s expression changes from angry to surprised. „Look, I’m not fine with this, okay? Because we know nothing about him. We don’t know where did he come from, what he’s capable of, we don’t know if he’s dangerous or not. And I’m really pissed at you for hiding this from me for so long. But I can see how attached you’ve become to him and I’m willing to give him a chance, just because I love you and I don’t want to lose you.” He says. „But seriously, the moment I notice something is not right, the tiniest proof that he’s gonna hurt you or me, I won’t hesitate to shoot him dead, Tyler. I swear to God.”_ _

__„He means no harm.”_ _

__„Are you one hundred percent sure about this?”_ _

__Tyler opens his mouth to say yes but then he realizes that he can’t really promise that. Josh is right - they really don’t know anything about the creature. He ends up shaking his head and hangs it low._ _

__Josh scoots closer and puts his hand on Tyler’s stubbly cheek, forcing him to look up again._ _

__„It’s all good, yeah? We’re good. We will figure it out.”_ _

__„Thank you.” Tyler smiles and accepts the hug Josh offers._ _

__„So, does he have any special skills or… qualities?” Josh asks after pulling away._ _

__„He can change his size. But it depends on the situation.”_ _

__„Excuse me?”_ _

__„I think it’s some kind of defense mechanism. Some kind of safety thing. Sometimes he makes himself small and hides in my coat pocket.”_ _

__Josh stares._ _

__„Anything else?” He asks after a long moment of silence._ _

__„His horns grow when he’s happy.”_ _

„Oh, Jesus.” Josh sighs, slowly regretting his decision. „Tell me something about him, something that won’t scare the shit out of me. Something I will _like_.”

__„Uh...” Tyler scratches the top of his head and looks at Ned who stares back at him, listening. „He can purr like a cat?”_ _

__„Okay, fine. He can stay.”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is. Don't ask me. I don't have answers.


End file.
